It's Not Only About Love
by pearls-and-crystal-blues
Summary: This is a missing moment from hp6 movie- so... AU: Ron accidently meets Harry & Hermione on the astronomy tower and has to deal with feelings he wants to hide and a beautiful girl he has a long time to see *details about the actual movie scene inside!*


**Author's Note:** Hi everyone! This is supposed to be a sort of missing moment from the movie 'harry potter and the half-blood prince'. A few days ago I watched HBO's first look on hp6 at 'you tube', and at the first part of it, there was this scene with Ron watching carefully at Hermione and Harry at this balcony (that's in the first few seconds of the video), and I found it utterly intense, so this fic came up! I know that probably it's a _huge_ AU, but I just had to get it out of my system, I suppose...

Anyway, I'll let you read now... Enjoy! :)

_~It's Not Only About Love~_

Ron Weasley was walking slowly around the hundreds of corridors and hallways of Hogwarts, thinking about… well, thinking about nothing. He was just wandering around the enormous castle, without any destination to reach or anyone to go to or find. He just needed some freedom at the precise moment and he would gain and savour it with any way he could find.

He had finally managed to escape from Lavender Brown's 'strong grip' with a sort of excuse he barely remembered at the moment- something probably about having to tell something to Harry. He didn't care actually what the excuse was; he just wanted to escape from his girlfriend and be alone for some time- something he actually hadn't been able to do for a long, _long _time.

His mind went instantly to his girlfriend; Ron frowned slightly at the thought of her and sighed heavily, shaking his head slowly with slight bitterness and disappointment. Why the heck he had to do this? To cause actually so much pain and sadness to so many people he cared, even a bit, about them: Harry, Lavender (because, to be honest, he understood that she wasn't happy with him; this entire merry thing between them was something temporary, empty and fake.), himself, and most importantly, _her_. Yes, Ron knew that _she _was in deep sorrow and sadness, and because of his rush, spontaneous, extremely stupid decisions and untamed jealousy and rage, of course! He cursed himself for leading things to this dreadful impasse, for letting everything he had, almost his entire world, ruin and be destroyed just like that. He knew he always had a problem with controlling himself about every single thing he could think about, and he was just thinking with his stubborn, inexperienced heart and his overwhelming emotions; logic was something totally unfamiliar to him.

His feet were working on their own account as he was still in deep deliberation about how much he had ruined everything. Especially after Christmas holidays, he had thought about that particular thing too many times, much more than he could actually bear to, but he still managed to think about it and still maintain his sanity intact. The time that was offered to him was the perfect moment for him to recapitulate all the events had happened so far through the year and fully understand what obnoxious things he had so stubbornly and stupidly done.

He looked around and tried to understand where his restless feet had been leading him all this hour, while his restless, but still rather lazy, brain had been working, for once again, overtime. With slight triumph, he almost immediately realized that he was on his way towards the balcony of the astronomy tower. He smiled to himself briefly, thinking that some cool, fresh air would be perfect at the moment.

He rushed towards the balcony, feeling some relief inside him as he felt the first cool breezes caressing gracefully his face; however he abruptly stopped dead in his tracks, as he made out two people standing on the edge of the balcony, the one really close to the other, looking at the scenery and talking vividly. His eyes widened when recognition hit him- of course the two students there were Harry and-

Ron gulped hard as the name of the second person filled his head and he felt his stomach clench uncomfortably. He stayed still for a mere moment, staring at his friend and former friend talking comfortably to each other some meters away from him, and then he thought that it would be better for him to leave, to give them the privacy they most possibly wanted to have. But when he was about to leave, he heard _her_ voice (that voice he didn't want to forget _ever_, but he had lost the privilege of hearing it and enjoying the various tones of it long time ago) and he stood still to hear her carefully.

"Just stop this, Harry; I said I don't want to speak about him again, and I seriously mean it- just stop this already!" Ron heard her saying with what seemed to be a serious, yet rather furious at the same time, tone. Ron felt his chest tightened a bit painfully, as her words were still echoing dreadfully and slowly into his ears, hitting his sensitive eardrums mercilessly, and his heart was in a somewhat physical and emotional pain. He was sure he knew _him_; he was absolutely sure he knew him really well…

He heard Harry saying something to her, but he didn't pay any attention to it, he just wanted so badly to hear _her _again, hearing another phrase come out from her lips… her lips…

"Harry, when I said '_you need us_', I meant both of us, but _not together_! I can help you whenever you want me to and he as well can help you whenever he feels the need to do so." she said pointedly and she sighed before continuing: "I understand, Harry that he's your best friend, and I really respect that, but I certainly don't have to come to terms with him because of that. I'm perfectly fine as it is."

Ron felt horrible at the moment he heard her opinion about him and their current 'state' being said out aloud. He felt like a terrible end have been put without him been asked if he wanted it- even though he didn't ask anyone if they wanted this to be started, when he began it, as well. His heart was pounding painfully fast and he leaned down to a short, wide, stone column nearby, resting his big hands on its rough surface and letting all his weight being supported by them; he felt his legs a bit weak.

But of course, by doing this, he stood on a flawed piece of wood, which creaked loudly enough for Harry and his friend to hear. They instantly looked at the source of the noise and they had a bit of difficulty to recognize the redhead who was standing in the faint shadows. When they understood who had interrupted them and at the moment was staring at them steadily with a serious, yet completely calm, expression on his face, they looked at each other for a mere moment- their reactions to this discovery were quite the opposite: Harry had no problem seeing his friend here, but a bit of curiosity teased him, as he didn't know since when Ron had been there with them; on the other hand, the brunette felt her cheeks getting a bit warm and she lowered her eyes immediately, feeling a bit bad for knowing that he had listened to her talking like this about him. Ron looked at them- and mostly at _her_- a bit more, before he straightened his back casually and drew close to them slowly. When he reached them, he took a mere glance of the girl before looking at the boy before him and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets nervously.

"Hey" he said casually and was careful not to mention any name; he didn't dare to say her name and if he had said just 'Harry', he would have been a real jerk. Harry smiled up to him instantly and Ron peeked at her, wanting to catch her reaction to his mere sentence; however, she seemed to be really convinced to look only at the wooden floor instead of him. He looked back at Harry immediately, not being able to stand this kind of rejection from her.

"What are you doing here, Ron?" Harry asked with curiosity, but the small smile never left his face. Ron was grateful for his friend- he simply wouldn't be able to stand two people not caring about him at all. He smiled back briefly.

"I was just walking and I thought to come here for a bit" he said casually but he immediately elaborated some more, so they- and especially she- wouldn't believe that he was about to stay there and constrain them to suffer his presence. "But I'm sorry I interrupted you; I had no idea you're here and you're probably speaking about something important, so I'll just go."

"No, Ron, it's ok; we have nothing else to talk about with Hermione and there's absolute no reason for you to leave." Harry said immediately and after casting a hurried glance at the girl next to him, he smiled once again at the redhead.

They stayed in a slightly uncomfortable silence for some long seconds; none of them knew how to start a conversation. That's until the girl spoke, looking directly at Harry and nowhere else- or better, at _no one _else.

"Harry, I think I ought to go; I must have left some unfinished homework and I've to check on some books at the library, so…"

"That's nonsense!" Harry exclaimed rather loudly and looked searchingly at the brunette. "You told me you finished your homework just a few minutes ago, and you also nag me for not finishing mine as well!"

The girl immediately bowed her head with a bit of embarrassment evident in her face, while her cheeks were rosy again. Ron looked quite sympathetically at her form and a second later, he exhaled a huge doze of air and whispered:

"You should let her go, Harry, if that's what she wants; probably she has something important to do." His tone was a mix of hurt, casualness and slight defense. The other two instantly looked at him with their looks full of surprise and wonder. He felt nervous under their silent stares and looked with interest at his shoelaces.

There was another big pause before the girl started talking awkwardly and unsurely: "I-I guess… it'll be ok if I stay a bit more; I'm not in such… hurry."

Now, it was Ron's time to jerk his head and look at the beautiful girl near him with pure astonishment in his eyes. _'Has she just agreed with me on something? Well, it wasn't actually an agreement, but…'_

Ron glanced at Harry, who was smiling thankfully at her at the moment. Then the redhead glanced at her and she seemed quite uncomfortable about the whole situation, but she smiled back at Harry, nonetheless. Ron felt a bit of tightness on his chest again, as he knew that a sweet, wonderful smile like this would never be sent at him from her ever again. He wanted to sigh deeply, but he knew that it would draw unwanted attention on him, so he just kept his feelings for himself.

The three of them looked at each other expectantly (of course, she and Ron didn't dare to look at each other directly), not desiring to have another big silence between them; but actually, they didn't have any chance to start a proper conversation, as Demelza Robins appeared on the balcony and looked at Harry quite worryingly.

"Harry!" she exclaimed hurriedly and approached the trio quickly. The three of them looked at the girl curiously.

"Demelza, what's wrong?" Harry asked her politely, but with curiosity still evident in his voice.

"Harry, come quickly at the quidditch pitch; we have a problem with some stupid Slytherins that are trying to wreck our locker rooms!" Demelza cried out. Harry's eyes widened in an instant and then he had a furious look on his face.

"Those slim gits!" he mumbled angrily and followed Demelza quickly. "Ron, Hermione, I've to go; I'll see you later, ok?" he said, looking at his two friends, but was gone a minute later, not actually waiting for any sort of reply from them.

Ron and Hermione nodded their agreements to Harry's statement to nobody; it was just a mechanical, quite nervous gesture. They remained silent for some minutes, neither of them taking the matters in their hands. Ron nervously turned around, so he could look at the almost dark blue sky before his eyes; the orange and light pink colors of the twilight on the sky intoxicated him in a calm, peaceful way, as the light, cool breeze was caressing his pale skin and whisking away some sandy locks from his eyes. He felt her next to him, just mirroring his actions and looking at the fields. He leaned on the iron rails and gazed at the sky more carelessly. A few moments later, he had the sudden urge to speak to her, to tell her various things, anything.

"You know, I've got you a present for Christmas, but I didn't have the guts to send it to you." he said absentmindedly and kept on gazing at the lovely scenery before him. He sensed her looking strangely at him.

"Really?" she asked rather snappily, but he didn't even blink; his confusing calmness didn't seem to abandon him that easily.

"Yeah, really; I was quite sure that you wouldn't probably go to the trouble of sending me a present, and most possibly you would throw mine in the fire without even opening it, so I thought it was a bad idea." His voice was deep and casual and the fact really amazed him for a moment; moreover, telling her this sort of thing was confusing as well- he hadn't even told _Harry _about all these!

He looked at her and with awe noticed that she was looking back at him with astonishment clearly evident on her angelic face.

"I didn't actually tell you this just to make you feel bad or something; I just mentioned it." His voice was sincere and that made her look him straight in the eye silently. Without thinking much, he took a step forward.

"I knew what our state was- well, it still remains the same, I suppose…" he joked slightly and both of them laughed softly for a mere second. "The point is that I didn't really want to infringe your peace or anything else yours…" he whispered seriously and stared deeply into her hazel eyes. She looked back at him with a sort of similar way.

"I guess… that was really thoughtful of you." she said in a low voice. Ron gave her a small smile and took another step closer to her.

"The whole thing probably amazes you, right?" he asked, but when he saw her confused look, he kept on: "Me being able to think in such depth." He laughed gently and she followed suit.

"I don't think so; well, maybe for a brief moment, but I always had faith in you…" she whispered and smiled sort of weakly. Ron, of course, had noticed the past tense in her statement, and it hurt him greatly, but he decided not to mention it.

"That's a good thing to know…" he commented unconsciously and leaned closer to her; the heat of her petite body was drawing him closer and closer to her like a magnet, like gravity forces people to stay on the surface of planet Earth. Without actually noticing, his face was a few centimeters away from hers, and his stare was moving from her captivating eyes to her full, pink lips and back on.

On an impulse, he slowly closed the distance between them and kissed her gently on the lips. They were much softer than he had ever dreamed or thought (yeah, he dared to admit it that he had been daydreaming for years just kissing those lips.) and they tasted much more intoxicating, as well. He felt them moving against his own ones, and his heart started beating faster from the pure bliss he felt. He ever so slowly snaked his long arms around her small body and he put them protectively around her little back. He felt a moment later her palms resting on his chest and the joy increased instantly.

After a minute or so, Ron pulled away gently, but never letting her escape from his warm embrace. He looked down at her with a warm, gentle smile beaming on his face. Her face was quite unreadable, though.

"I love you." Ron whispered softly and lovingly at her without thinking about it at all; he wanted her so much to know about it and at the moment, nothing else mattered to him.

The girl in his arms looked at him searchingly and then took her palms away from his torso and gently pulled away from his embrace. This confused the boy instantly, and the beamish smile disappeared from his handsome face. "What's wrong?"

She looked at the fields for a mere second- the ones that said nothing to Ron right now- and exhaled slowly before looking back at him quite sadly.

"This is not only about love, Ron." she said lowly and looked at him rather apologetically. Ron didn't seem to get it.

"What do you mean? I love you, I don't love her or anyone else for the matter; isn't that enough?" he asked downright confused.

The apologetic look on her eyes was gone now- she looked at him rather angrily. "No, Ron, this is not enough; your love is not enough at the moment!"

"Why?" he asked hurt, not minding so much the anger in her voice; it was her words that made him think of prospects he had buried deep down in his soul the moment he kissed her: "Don't... don't you feel the same?"

"It doesn't matter at the moment, Ronald!" she snapped lowly "The point is that love is not enough for us right now!"

"Why?" he asked again, this time his voice sounded desperate, but he didn't observe it; the only thing he cared about at the moment, was to find out her reasoning for them not being able to be together, or to find out her feelings for him.

"Because we have lost anything else between us!" she cried out and glared at him, while he was looking back at her with a lost look on his crystal blue orbs. "I've lost my faith in you, my trust, my friend over… _over something I considered not as valuable as our friendship_." she finished and looked at him acidly, but at the same time cautiously. Ron was hurt and sad and disappointed by himself for letting everything go so, so wrong; but he wanted to made up for all his mistakes.

"Then, what should I do to bring all these things back?" he asked her hopefully, yet still desperately. She shook her head slowly and exhaled noisily, before looking at him rather sadly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not the one who's going to tell you what to do; you have to think about this for yourself…" she whispered and after glancing at his face once more, she started growing away.

Ron did nothing to stop her; he thought that it would be utterly useless. He just stood there, watching her leave without throwing another glance towards him, until she was out of his visibility range. With every step she took, he felt his heart shattering little by little, until it would probably be just a pile of bloody little pieces that only made him hurt in the chest. He looked once again at the space where she stood before she disappeared and took a shaky breath, just to make himself steadier and less infrangible towards the pain. He had to be strong and he gave promise to himself that he would sort everything out.

'_That's because I love you, Hermione…'_ he thought sadly and a minute later, he started making his way towards the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

_- Well, what do you think? I don't know if you noticed this, but Ron avoided telling or even thinking her name all the time, until the last thought of his, of course... I just thought it would be adding to the whole 'drama thing' or something._

_- Anyway, I really, REALLY would like to know your opinion about this one-shot by giving some FEEDBACK! That would be awesome, actually! :)_

_-And thanks for reading. I really appreciate it! Until the next time... :) xxx_


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